- Homan: Minnesota gang presence will be reduced by 25%
Source: United Press International
“About 25% of federal agents in Minnesota will leave ‘effective immediately,’ leaving about 2,000 still in the state, mostly in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Border Czar Tom Homan said Wednesday. Homan cited an ‘unprecedented’ amount of cooperation between local officials and Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the state since he was sent there as the reason for the drawdown. … ICE and Border Patrol agents have been in Minnesota since December, and people have been actively protesting their presence. Two American citizens have been [murdered] by federal agents since Operation Metro Surge began.” [editor’s note: Did Tim Walz cough up $50k in cash in a shopping bag for Homan? – TLK] (02/04/26)
- Russian Oil Revenues Plunge to Five-Year Low on Sanctions, Ruble
Source: Bloomberg
“The Russian government’s oil revenues collapsed to the lowest in more than five years in January as weaker global prices, steeper discounts for the nation’s barrels, and a stronger currency took a toll on the budget. Oil-related taxes halved to 281.7 billion rubles ($3.7 billion) last month from a year earlier, according to Bloomberg calculations based on finance ministry data published Wednesday. Combined oil and gas revenue also declined by 50%, to 393.3 billion rubles. Lower proceeds from the two industries, which between them contribute about a quarter of the budget, will put more strain on the nation’s coffers as the war in Ukraine drags toward a fifth year with little sign of ending.” (02/04/26)
- MN: Teachers sue to keep ICE gang off school property
Source: Washington Post
“A group of Minnesota school districts and educators has asked a judge to order federal officers to stay away from schools, alleging that the nation’s largest immigration operation has spilled onto campuses, affecting attendance statewide, according to a lawsuit filed against the Department of Homeland Security on Wednesday morning. The lawsuit rebukes the agency’s aggressive immigration crackdown in Minneapolis and St. Paul — its largest operation so far in a campaign to arrest and deport undocumented immigrants. The public school districts in Fridley and Duluth, along with Education Minnesota, an 89,000-member teachers union, accuse federal officers of breaking a promise to stay away from schools.” (02/04/26)
- Nigeria: Gunmen kill more than 30 people in Kwara State
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“Armed men have killed at least 35 people and burned homes and shops in Woro, a remote village in Nigeria’s north-central Kwara State, authorities said. … It was the deadliest assault this year in the district bordering Niger State, which armed gangs have attacked increasingly. Villagers fled into the surrounding bushland as the armed men attacked Woro, [lawmaker Sa’idu Baba] Ahmed told the Reuters news agency by phone. Several people were still missing, he said.” (02/04/26)
- Russia and Ukraine envoys meet in Abu Dhabi for US-brokered talks
Source: Seattle Times
“Envoys from Russia and Ukraine met in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday for another round of U.S.-brokered talks on ending the almost four-year war, a Ukrainian negotiator said. The delegations from Moscow and Kyiv were joined in the United Arab Emirates by U.S. officials, Rustem Umerov, Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council chief, who was present at the meeting, said on social media. Umerov said the planned two-day negotiations started with all three delegations present, after which negotiators were to break into groups according to topics and then meet as a full group again at the end.” (02/04/26)
- Libertarian National Committee Condemns ICE for Fourth Amendment Violations
Source: Independent Political Report
“The Libertarian National Committee has formally condemned Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other law enforcement agencies over reports of repeated Fourth Amendment violations, accusing authorities of excessive force and constitutional overreach that undermine limits on government power. In a February 1 statement, the LNC pointed reports detailing a growing pattern of overreach by ICE and other federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies. The national committee’s response follows an earlier resolution addressing the same concerns, which informed the statement. The measure, which required a three-fourths vote for adoption, passed 13–0 with one abstention. Prior to that, LNC Chair Steven Nekhaila also separately called for the abolition of ICE following the shooting of Alex Pretti, criticizing the agency for shifting away from administrative civil processes toward what he regards as confrontational, ‘occupation-style policing.'” (02/03/26)
- Iran’s Protesters Are Trapped Between Tehran’s Brutality and Trump’s Empty Promises
Source: The UnPopulist
by Eric Lob“Outside players with their own agenda are undermining the cause of regime change in the country.” (02/04/26)
https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/irans-protesters-are-trapped-between
- For Zelensky, Is Losing the War Better Than Losing the Peace?
Source: The American Conservative
by Ted Snider“Ukraine is losing the land in the war that they refuse to lose in the peace. But, for Zelensky, losing the war may be preferable to losing the peace. The result will be the same for Ukraine, but perhaps not for its president. If Ukraine loses the peace, Ukrainians will blame Zelensky. But if Ukraine loses the war, Zelensky can blame the U.S. and Europe.” [editor’s note: Ah a little bit of progress — After nearly four years of the Russian forces failing to secure the Donbas, Snider has progressed from “Ukraine CAN’T WIN” the war to “Ukraine IS LOSING” the war. Maybe he’ll eventually figure out that this war, like all wars, only has losers (excepting political class profiteers) – TLK] (02/04/26)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/for-zelensky-is-losing-the-war-better-than-losing-the-peace/
- ICE Was Terrorizing Worshipers Long Before Don Lemon Entered a Church
Source: The Bulwark
by Adrian Carrasquillo“When Don Lemon was arrested after reporting on the aggressive protest of a church … the Trump administration claimed that Lemon and another journalist present at the event had violated federal laws meant, in part, to shield churches from having their services disrupted. The administration’s message was clear: Disrupting church services and taking away the right of others to worship freely and in peace is unconscionable. How dare protesters infringe on those congregants’ First Amendment rights! Who would do such a thing? Well, one of the first things this White House did after Donald Trump’s second inauguration was to rescind the 2021 guideline that required CBP and ICE agents to do everything in their power to avoid conducting operations in or near ‘protected areas’ like churches, hospitals, and schools. It wasn’t long before agents were showing up at just those sorts of places in the apparent hope of surprising their targets.” (02/04/26)
- Choose your crisis, Congress: Six paths to fiscal disaster
Source: Washington Post
by George F Will“As the national debt is a few months from reaching $39 trillion, and perhaps $40 trillion by the end of this year, it is puzzling how unperturbed the political class is. Or perhaps not. Writer and political agitator Upton Sinclair (1878-1968) said: ‘It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.’ Or pretending not to. A bipartisan congressional consensus, more alarming than partisan rancor, is: There are no long-term fiscal gains without intense short-term political pains. So, because today’s congressional careers do not yet seem likely to coincide with coming dire consequences, let them come. In 2016, a budget expert was allotted 20 minutes to brief Donald Trump on those possible consequences. After five minutes, Trump said, ‘Yeah, but I’ll be gone.’ He was perfectly in sync with the political mainstream he professes to supplant.” (02/04/26)
- Sensible Immigration Policy Begins With Understanding, Not Gaslighting
Source: Common Dreams
by Anthony Pahnke“By now, we have heard the mantra that President Donald Trump was right to close the border, but wrong in his heavy-handed approach to immigration enforcement. We are also told that if he would have simply done what most Americans wanted, that is, arrest and deport violent criminals, then his poll numbers would be higher, and his administration wouldn’t find itself embroiled by crisis in the aftermath of two killings at the hands of federal agents in Minneapolis. But this claim (that the problem with Trump’s immigration agenda is mainly about enforcement tactics) is flawed. Seriously addressing this country’s ongoing immigration crisis will require policy change, and to get to that point, there needs to be a narrative shift in this country away from indiscriminately criminalizing all undocumented people to humanizing them.” (02/04/25)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/sensible-immigration-policy
- TR in the Arena
Source: Law & Liberty
by Ralph L DeFalco III“Theodore Roosevelt came of age and rose to prominence in the late 1800s and, arguably, launched what Time magazine publisher H. R. Luce would later call the ‘American Century.’ As the Gilded Age faded, Roosevelt shaped America’s entry into world affairs and created the impetus for a robust America First foreign policy and hegemony in the Western Hemisphere. By sheer force of personality, he enlarged the stature of the presidency and the executive’s role in shaping public policy. No stranger to controversy and conflict, Roosevelt spoiled for a fight and delighted in lacerating his enemies with calculated comments and ridicule. In short, Roosevelt would be equally at home in both the early twentieth and twenty-first century American politics.” (02/04/26)
- The Third Period: My Covid Speech in the Czech Parliament
Source: Brownstone Institute
by Tomas Fürst“Today — or rather already with Wednesday’s comment by Prime Minister Andrej Babiš that we should have taken the Swedish path — the third period of our Covid match begins. The first period consisted of a global loss of sanity itself. I called the second period the Great Covid Silence, when many players fervently hoped that how they played in the first period would be forgotten. The last period will — so I firmly hope — consist of catharsis and lessons learned. Let us hope no overtime will be needed.” (02/04/26)
https://brownstone.org/articles/the-third-period-my-covid-speech-in-the-czech-parliament/
- Why Russia survived — and may thrive — after Syria regime change
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Anna Matveeva“Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad’s downfall was a blow for the Kremlin, but it did take it on the chin. Now, the relationship needs to be rebuilt on a new basis — not between patron and client, but on an equal footing. Russia is a part of the new Syrian government’s diversification agenda: Syria needs all the friends it can get, but without becoming a pawn in somebody else’s geopolitical game. Moscow, for now, seems happy to offer that.” (02/04/26)
- The Economic Origins of Cryptocurrencies
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Deborah Palma“The launch of Bitcoin in 2009 represents one of the most disruptive phenomena in financial history, establishing a unique link between computer science and an economic tradition opposed to the mainstream. To understand Bitcoin’s importance, it is not sufficient to analyze its cryptographic architecture alone; it is essential to delve into the intellectual roots that shaped its existence, primarily found in the Austrian School of Economics.” (02/04/26)
https://fee.org/articles/the-economic-origins-of-cryptocurrencies/
- Deploying Troops to US Cities Cost Half a Billion Dollars in 2025
Source: Reason
by JD Tuccille“Maintaining a uniformed domestic security force is pricey in terms of life, liberty, and dollars.” (02/04/26)
https://reason.com/2026/02/04/deploying-troops-to-u-s-cities-cost-half-a-billion-dollars-in-2025/
- Understanding Money and Inflation in Today’s World
Source: Libertarian Institute
by Oscar Grau“Leaving aside the events that made the current monetary system possible, banknotes that are printed monopolistically (currency) by central banks have purchasing power and serve as a general medium of exchange (money) for billions of people around the world. Such currencies (paper money), with no backing and with no non-monetary use, make up the monetary base upon which the fractional reserve banking system relies; first, through their privileged backing by central banks as lenders of last resort and second, through the reserve multiplier, allowing commercial banks to provide loans (bank money) beyond their reserves. The new funds created and lent by commercial banks via mere accounting entries perform the same function as money and therefore increase the money supply.” (02/04/26)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/understanding-money-and-inflation-in-todays-world
- Big Money Is Back
Source: The American Prospect
by David Dayen“A preview to this year’s congressional primary season kicks off, unusually, on Thursday. Former Rep. Mikie Sherrill won a landslide to become New Jersey’s governor last year, and a crowded primary to replace her in the state’s 11th Congressional District is being held tomorrow. It’s a light-blue district, but the winner of the 11-candidate Democratic primary is expected to easily prevail in the general election in early April. That’s brought a familiar face out of the shadows to help determine the outcome: AIPAC. Though some reports indicated that the pro-Israel PAC was pulling back on electoral spending, it has thrown down nearly $2.3 million in television ads through its subsidiary United Democracy Project (UDP), and $1.83 million more in direct mail and phone banks, to block former Rep. Tom Malinowski from winning the seat. As is typical for single-issue groups, the ads are 100 percent pretextual.” (02/04/25)
https://prospect.org/2026/02/04/2026-primaries-spending-aipac-analilia-mejia-tom-malinowski/
- Federal Election Takeover?
Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob“Have you ever noticed that in the tug of war beteeen federal and state power, politicians of all stripes support the Constitution’s balance when it suits them and ignore it when it doesn’t?” (02/04/26)
https://thisiscommonsense.org/2026/02/04/federal-election-takeover/
- Inside Strum: How a Subscription Platform Funds Ukraine’s Neo-Nazi Azov Brigade
Source: Antiwar.com
by JD Hester“With resources dwindling and rampant foreign military aid corruption, Azov has increasingly relied on donations from individuals and companies. According to reporting from Svidomi, which included interviews with founders and project managers, a new project, Strum, has become the ‘driving force’ behind the Brigade. The platform operates as a subscription service like Netflix or Spotify, but with some substantial differences and additional features.” [editor’s note: I’m not a fan of Azov, but this is the way ALL military organizations should be funded – TLK] (02/04/26)
- The Techno-Authoritarian Blueprint for America, part 1
Source: The Jolly Libertarian
by Marco den Ouden“There is a new strain of authoritarian thought emerging in America today, one that threatens to rip asunder America as we know it. It has its roots in the neo-feudalism of anarcho-capitalist theorist Hans-Hermann Hoppe. It evolved into the neo-reactionism of Curtis Yarvin writing as Mencius Moldbug. His Patchwork philosophy called for a fractured network of corporate city states, each ruled by a corporate CEO with absolute power. More recently Yarvin has come out explicitly for regime change and the establishment of a de facto centralized authoritarian one party state through what he he calls Hard Party politics. An approach one might call Shock-and-Awe Centralism.” (02/03/26)
https://jollylibertarian.blogspot.com/2026/02/the-techno-authoritarian-blueprint-for.html
- The Roundup: Too much ICE
Source: The Watch
by Radley Balko“The government is cracking down. The people are standing up.” (02/03/26)
- The Daily Blast With Greg Sargent, 02/04/26
Source: The New Republic
“Trump Spirals into Crazed Fury after Harvard Humiliates Him Very Badly.” (02/04/26)
https://newrepublic.com/article/206113/trump-spirals-crazed-fury-harvard-humiliates-badly
- Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 02/04/26
Source: Antiwar.com
“US Shoots Down Iranian Drone in Arabian Sea, Russia Says US Silent on New START, and More.” (02/04/26)
- Fountainhead Forum, episode 417
Source: Fountainhead Forum
“Mark Sims on running for US Senate and life at West Point.” (02/03/26)
https://rumble.com/v759qz0-ff-417-mark-sims-on-running-for-us-senate-and-life-at-west-point.html
- Nonzero, 02/03/26
Source: bloggingheads.tv
“The Meaning of Moltbook | Robert Wright & Paul Bloom.” (02/03/26)